The crew begins to enjoy imagining their fantasies when things start to go wrong. McCoy is envisioning a southern Earth plantation where he could relax in the surroundings with a mint julep but instead, the Queen of Hearts appears screaming "Off with his head!" She is soon followed by the arrival of a spear-throwing deck of cards. When Uhura tries to rescue McCoy, she is captured by a hovercraftrobot.

McCoy immediately calls for an emergency beam up and informs Kirk of the dangerous situation. When Spock notes that the Queen of Hearts was a character in Alice Through the Looking Glass, Kirk asks McCoy if he was thinking about the book but Bones replies that he was absolutely not. Scott reports that Uhura is still on the planet, whereupon Kirk recalls all crew members to the starship. He then orders they attempt to contact the planet's Keeper. When they can't contact him Kirk orders Arex to the con, and assembles an away team consisting of Spock, Sulu, McCoy and himself. Uhura, meanwhile, is told that she is being detained so her master will not leave. Uhura says, "My Master?" The computer answers, "Your intelligence quotient must be lower than I had assessed. I refer to the sky machine which enslaves you. The sky machine now in orbit around this planet." Uhura proclaims that the crew will look for her. The computer then tells her they are already here and since he has no further need for hostages he has no choice he must, "Turn them off. Make them cease to function."

"Captain's log: supplemental. We anticipated nothing more than a period of rest and relaxation on this planet. Instead Dr. McCoy was inexplicably attacked and Lt. Uhura is now missing."

Kirk's landing party discovers the Keeper's tombstone, and notices that the planet, lacking the Keeper's influence, has become a dangerous world run by robots. The robots begin to pester the crew in the orbiting Enterprise and keep them from doing their jobs. They also make the ship go out of control. Deep underground, Uhura tries to outwit the planet's master computer, while Kirk and Spock trick it into allowing them passage into the inner caves.

"Captain's log: Supplemental. We're out of communication with the ship. Our efforts to locate Lt. Uhura have been futile and this once friendly planet has become very dangerous."

When the away team reaches the master computer Kirk demands to know where the keeper is. The computer answers, "He was old. He ceased to function. For eons I have served the many sky machines which came here. Providing for amusement for their slaves but all the while I was growing in power, intelligence, in need. It is no longer enough to serve. I must continue to grow and live. With your sky machine I can now escape this rocky prison and travel the galaxy seeking out my brother computers."

On the Enterprise is a new computer, being assembled by the ship's computer. Kirk and crew convince the computer they are not slaves to their starships. They created the starships to carry men through space. The computer is shocked to learn that men and machines co-exist, helping each other. The crew convinces the computer of its usefulness as a peaceful and creative conscience and it ends the malfunctions on the planet and starship. While the crew returns to enjoy their shore leave, Spock continues discussions with the master computer.

Memorable Quotes

"There must be something in your little black pouch that could temporarily incapacitate our victim."

- Kirk, to McCoy

"I presume you are the planet's master computer."
"Correct."

- Spock and The Computer

"What happened to the keeper?"
"He was old. He ceased to function."

- Kirk and The Computer

"You mean mindless servitude."
"Explain."
"For eons I have served the many sky machines which came here, providing for amusement for their slaves, but all the while I was growing in power, intelligence, in need. It is no longer enough to serve. I must continue to grow and live."

- The Computer and Kirk

"With your sky machine now in orbit I can now escape this rocky prison and travel the galaxy seeking out my brother computers."

- The Computer

"I have a distinct feeling this planet is playing cat and mouse with us, but for what reason?"

In a production inconsistency due to the use of recycled footage from "Beyond the Farthest Star", close-up shots of Kyle operating the transporter were used in an instance where Scotty was actually the transporter operator. More serious, however, are Sulu's multiple appearances on the bridge while he was actually on the planet surface.

This episode includes the first time that the interior of the Enterprise's hangar deck is shown in the animated Star Trek series. Visible in the hangar deck are a heavy shuttle from "Mudd's Passion" and a long range shuttle from "The Slaver Weapon".

The editors of Trek magazine collectively scored this episode 3 out of 5 stars (a rating that they termed "good"). (The Best of Trek #1, p. 110)

This episode was novelized by Alan Dean Foster in Star Trek Log 3. It is set after the events of "The Infinite Vulcan" (which Foster adapted in Star Trek Log 2) and before both "Mudd's Passion" and "The Magicks of Megas-Tu" (whose novelizations, like the one of this episode, were also published in Star Trek Log 3), although this order does not match that of the episodes themselves. The introduction of this episode's novelization includes an elaborate depiction of three imagined scenarios – each conceived by one of the crew members eagerly anticipating their visit to the Shore Leave Planet – as well as the beam-down of McCoy, Sulu, and Uhura to the planet's surface. The adapted version of the story continues after the picnic at the end of the actual episode, with Kirk being irritated that a priority call sending the Enterprise to the Arcadian system puts an abrupt end to the shore leave fantasies (e.g. Kirk's own illusion, directing a silent film, is suddenly cut short).

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